The level of detail in flight-simulator imagery depends upon the resolutions of the database, the image generator (IG), and the display. In response to the need for greater detail, resources are being devoted to increasing the spatial resolution of each of these system components. Next-generation flight-simulator visual systems will thus be capable of representing smaller environmental features and of representing a given feature at a greater distance. However, flight-simulator imagery is more than a sequence of static, spatial images. During simulated flight, the system creates a three-dimensional (two dimensions of space, one of time) space-time image that approximates the continuous changes in the spatial image that would result if the pilot were to actually fly through the synthetic environment. The quality of such space-time images depends upon the temporal as well as the spatial characteristics of the IG and the display.

Here we (a) discuss how database and IG resolutions and simulated-flight speed and altitude affect the temporal frequencies in an image and thus the extent of temporal aliasing likely in simulator imagery, (b) describe effects of a display system’s spatial and temporal resolution on the spatiotemporal-frequency spectrum of a display image, (c) summarize characteristics of the human visual system relevant to spatiotemporal-frequency and motion perception, and (d) report preliminary results of a research project in which we are examining the effects of image resolution on perceived-motion quality during simulated flight.